festoon

plural festoons

1. An ornament such as a garland or chain which hangs loosely from two tacked spots.
2. architectureA bas-relief, painting, or structural motif resembling such an ornament.

   The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

3. A raised cable with light globes attached.
4. astronomyA cloud on Jupiter that hangs out of its home belt or zone into an adjacent area forming a curved finger-like image or a complete loop back to its home belt or zone.
5. acarologyAny of a series of wrinkles on the backs of some ticks.
6. engineeringA specific style of electric light bulb consisting of a cylindrical enclosure with two points of contact on either end providing power to the filament or diode.
7. businessTwo sets of rollers used to create a buffer of material on web handling equipment.
8. Any of various papilionid butterflies of the genus Zerynthia.
9. dentistryTexturing applied to a denture to simulate human tissue.

present singular third person festoons · participle present festooning · participle past festooned · past festooned

1. To decorate as if with ornaments, such as garlands or chains, which hang loosely from two tacked spots.

   The tree trunks and the creepers that festooned them lost themselves in a green dusk thirty feet above him, and all about was the undergrowth.

   1954, William Golding, chapter 3, in Lord of the Flies, →ISBN, page 48

2. To make festoons.
3. To decorate or bedeck abundantly.

   He was bewildered by how the car was festooned with polka dots.

   5 more examples

   A mysterious woman who shows up at a funeral more droopily festooned in black than the widow is making what is known as a fashion statement.

   2005, Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Norton, page 804

   Some teachers festoon every spare inch of wall with vocabulary choices or maths techniques to use, which look great at first, but to some children might appear quite daunting. You'll probably see unfamiliar acronyms such as Walt (We Are Learning To). Be sure to ask what they stand for and how they are used in practice.

   2014 September 23, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian

   Most mistletoes are "hemiparasites." This means they don't rely on their hosts for all their needs: Instead, they harvest the sun's energy to make some sugars for themselves. Nonetheless, if you're a tree, you don't want to be festooned with them. Two or three shouldn't be a problem, but dozens of mistletoes can lead to water stress, insect infestation or even death.

   2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times

   The room into which Lieutenant Said led Cora was obviously the debriefing room of a lab complex. Schematics models, handwritten papers, and extra haptic terminals festooned the walls, and the circular table had a built-in holo projector.

   2017 November, N. K. Jemisin, Mac Walters, chapter 10, in Mass Effect Andromeda: Initiation, 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 179

   Many seats carry reservation labels, while the luggage racks are festooned with backpacks and suitcases.

   2022 November 30, Paul Bigland, “Destination Oban: a Sunday in Scotland”, in RAIL, number 971, page 77

4. transitivedentistryTo apply texturing to (a denture) to simulate human tissue.